There was a small covering on Srisailam about two paragraphs in a leading newspaper stating that authority had opened two gates during the last two days.During our last visit we could not get the gates opened. We ended up with a dry visit!!. Please refer here for our first visit. Also during with the chitchat with my manager cum friend Sreekar from my organization yielded that it could be a better visit this time as the gates were opened. Accordingly, Friday night I had to convince my wife for this weekend trip. We packed our bag quickly and were ready for our next day visit. The cherry on the top was to have my in-laws who joined ย this trip. It was a best option to see Lord Mallikarjuna.
Weekend gateway from hyderabad
Srisailam is a temple town deep inside Nallamalla forest on the bank of river Krishna in kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.It is 235 KM away from Hitechcity via ORR.
Next day, (14th Oct’2017), we started at 8AM. We reached HP diesel bunk for topping up diesel. at around 8:30 AM we hit the Neheru Outer Ring Road(ORR). At around 9AM we reached exit 19 and met Srisailam highway.After driving around 10 KMs , we were surprised to see the road condition. It had improved drastically over last 3 years. Clear sign of diversions, bumps and village made our driving joyful.
The road was wide , two ways with
Weekend gateway from hyderabad
Newly laid tars made our journey pleasurable. On top of this there were numbers of dhabas to have food. We stopped for a Dhaba for a cup of tea before kalwakurthy. Unfortunately the dhaba was closed but tea section was opened. We took 2 cups of tea. The toilet facility was clean. We had not faced any issue so far with two elderly people . Keeping my last visit in mind, I was cruising at 60-70 KM/hr.
Just before kalwakurthy, We stopped for the major break at Food Village. We had puri and some sweet flavored milk. This hotel was having great ambiance,staff and again neat and clean toilet facility. They had ample of parking. On top this the price was real cheap. Hats off to the owner.
Weekend gateway from hyderabad
Our next destination was Dindi dam. Atย kalwakurthy junction, the road was broadened along with clear signboard towords Srisailam. There was no way a driver could make mistake now. I remembered that three years back it was so narrow I left this turning and went to wards Devkarna to Bangalore highway. Once we crossedย kalwakurthy junction, the road became almost empty. The journey became a breeze in the lap of mother nature with light or no traffic .Due to Dindi’d height my in-lays refused to climb to Dindi. As we have already ventured Dindi last time. We continued our journey.
Weekend gateway from hyderabad
Our next stop was just before the forest check point.We had to take a Rs 20 INR ticket to
enter into the jungle. I expected a lush green jungle just after crossing the gate. But it was not. There were lot of food stalls in the villages. The remoteness and beauty of the jungle somehow transformed to business oriented area. However after driving some KMs I could still find the hotel at the jungle safari gate. Not sure if that was run by govt anymore. Last time , we visited here , it was run by Haritha. We remembered that it was a deep jungle.We were driving back to Hyderabad. Since it was raining heavily, we did not see any other commuter for almost 1 hour. I was hungry ,thirsty for some tea and some safe shade to take some rest.Suddenly out of no where this tea stall arrived. We took fried moong dal along with tea. This time also we stopped here for cherish those memories.We enjoyed tea here , did some photoshooting of our in laws.
Weekend gateway from hyderabad
The safari facility was improved a lot with lots of nature lovers willing to go inside jungle. The guide told us beforehand that there would not be be any animal and it would be a pure jungle safari.I was amazed to see many nature lover ventured to see the jungle .
So far I remembered that last time the ambiance was not good. The guide was not in proper dress and the jeep was not in proper condition. This time the ambiance was great, the guides were in proper dress. Moreover the car was completely new.We continued our journey again.
Weekend gateway from hyderabad
Our next stop or rather a forced stop at the first view point from where people could see the man made beauty. We also stopped here saw the man made wonder. This time we realized that there were six gates opened. We thanked Lord Mallikarjuna. Once we came to the second view point, we saw the majestic view of man made rain. I had to pack my SLR. My wife took some with her mobile camera though. Entire road was scenic with lash greenery with full of flora and fauna as that was post monsoon season .
Weekend gateway from hyderabad
The Man made wonder and man made rain removed all tiredness. Going down further to the hill to cross the bridge was not easy. It was a huge gathering of nearby people who want to drench themselves in the lap of mother nature.
With lot of difficulty we crossed the bridge and went to the top hill again . it costed us 3 hours.Just before entering Srisailam , we got our old hotel which offer non veg. We stopped here for lunch for the first time.The quality of the food was improved so as the Spice.We took veg meal and resumed our journey again. Our next stop was at the Sakshi ganapati temple for a prayer. This time it was more systematic with queue of people ,traffic control police and ample of parking.
Weekend gateway from hyderabad
Sakshi Ganapati is a famous temple of Lord Ganesh situated just before Srisailam.It is said Lord Ganesh keeps records of all names of the pilgrims who come to Srisailam. He displays the list to Lord Siva for blessings. If you have an option to stop here,please park your vehicle and visit here first then proceed to Srisailam.If you are travelling in a bus or have no option to stop here,please come back here for registering your name. However you can get down from bus here , ample of autos available to travel to Srisailam.
After 20 minutes we started again for our last leg of our journey. At the gate of Srisailam we had to pay Rs 100 for Srisailam entry.Road inside andhra was also good. So within no time we reached Srisailam.
I completely forgot the road towards the hotel. My wife came to rescue us. After a little difficulties we got the hotrel. We got 2 A/C rooms in top floor. The view was awesome. We rested for sometimes. At evening we went for Srisailam market for some shopping.
ย Lord Mallikajurna temple-Night View. The temple looked gorgeous and is a symbol of ancient sculpture.
The main gate of Lord Mallikarjuna.
The market was bigger this time.Lots of shopping options. We purchased lots of items this time. We noticed that there were lots of hotels,food centers,canteens available. Hotel Apoorva was same in taste. We ate meal and some customized food items.One more thing we noticed that time use of coconut was limited in all the hotels.
ย During shopping we ate at A1 hotel. It was a great canteen in the heart of the market.Dosa was great. We tasted the aloo bhaji and tea as well.At 10PM we started our return journey to the hotel. At 10:30PM we cam back to hotel.
It was nice to see lots of people in the market at 10PM. And below was the view of the hotel at night.
Next day , we got up at 7:00AM, started preparing for Lord Mallikarjuna darshhan.The morning view was so nice from the hotel that we could not resist ourselves for few snaps.
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ย Lord Mallikajurna temple-Night View. The temple looked gorgeous and is a symbol of ancient sculpture.
